Cardinals Fans Show The Racist Underbelly Of St. Louis During Clash With Ferguson Protesters

Since the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown at the hands of Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson on August 9th, protests have raged in the St. Louis suburb. While they are no longer national news fodder with nightly showing of tear gas and rubber bullets being shot at protesters, demonstrations have continued in and around Ferguson. Generally, the demonstrations are limited to the Ferguson police station, with 50 to 100 protesters showing up and making their voices heard.

However, activists have pushed for further, more visible demonstrations outside of Ferguson. In early September, protesters attempted to shut down an interstate highway that ran through Ferguson. There have been multiple marches that have gone through Clayton, a nearby city that houses the St. Louis County courthouse. On Saturday, 50 protesters showed up at a performance by the St. Louis Symphony and performed a song, titled “Requiem for Mike Brown,’ during an intermission of the orchestra’s performance. While some concertgoers seemed upset by the display, the majority of the audience and the musicians showered the protesters with applause after they were done.

Protesters decided to show up Monday night to demonstrate outside of Busch Stadium. The St. Louis Cardinals faced the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 3 of the National League Division Series. Before and during the game, a group of protesters, many of whom were representing activist groups from around the Ferguson area, chanted and marched in front of the stadium. A number of Cardinals fans confronted the protesters throughout the demonstration. Argus Radio, which is a volunteer-run local independent news station, provided a livestream of the clash between white Cardinals fans and the mostly black protesters.

As you can see, the ugly racism displayed by Cardinals fans is something that should bring shame upon the entire St. Louis community. There are a number of lowlights featured in this video. One of them more disgusting examples can be seen early on in the lengthy clip as a number of Cardinals fans switch a ‘Let’s Go Cardinals!’ chant into a ‘Let’s Go Darren!’ chant, referring to Officer Wilson. This was followed by a man calling one of the protesters a crackhead and complaining about his teeth. We also see at least one fan with a jersey on where he has taped on the back a sign that says ‘I am Darren Wilson.’

Near the beginning of the clip, we see a man yelling at the protesters. He then stares into the camera and claims that none of this would be happening if the protesters were out working instead. Later on, we see a woman state that ‘they’ wouldn’t have their freedom if it weren’t for people like her. Presumably, she was talking about white people freeing blacks from slavery. (I doubt she’d want to get into a debate about who actually put black people into chains.) After that little transgression, another woman starts yelling ‘Africa! Africa! Africa!’ This leads into someone else telling the protesters to pull up their pants and take off their caps. Earlier, we

Sadly, this isn’t shocking for anyone really familiar with the racial dynamics of the St. Louis metropolitan area. The vast majority of fans who attend Cardinals games are white. It is also safe to say that most of these fans live in areas of the metro area where the racial makeup is overwhelmingly Caucasian. The segregated nature of the area creates a lack of empathy within the white population of St. Louis. Ask a random white resident of St. Louis what they think about Ferguson right now, and you will hear comments similar, if not worse, than those captured on this video.

17 Responses to "Cardinals Fans Show The Racist Underbelly Of St. Louis During Clash With Ferguson Protesters"

Roland Ruby Tuesday, October 7th, 2014 at 4:06 pm

Why is there no mention of the protestors shouting that they want Darren Wilson “dead?”
As a liberal, this embarasses me. It’s basically the left wing equivalent of Teabaghers. Mindless mob ruled by emotions.

Warren Doris. Tuesday, October 7th, 2014 at 7:03 pm

Why should they not want him dead? He killed the kid for no reason!

Tom Wells Wednesday, October 8th, 2014 at 8:21 am

C’mon, Warren. You don’t really mean that killing another person is justified, do you? We can do much better than this. Please don’t stoop to that level.

As a devout Cardinals’ fan and attender of about 15 games per year, I am very embarrassed by my fellow fans. In all the years I have attended games, I have never witnessed any racist or other hateful acts by my fellow fans, but I have also not witnessed any protests taking place near the ballpark. I am speechless.

Semper Fidelis Tuesday, October 7th, 2014 at 7:06 pm

Upside down American flag….that’s garbage. Maybe they should take a look at the way that kid was living and acting. Not America’s fault. Black community needs to take ownership and accountability of the way they behave. “yes sir”, “no sir” to the police officer and the kid is still alive. Is that too much to ask? I was there, that flag would have been properly displayed.

Dee Tuesday, October 7th, 2014 at 10:40 pm

So the American flag flying upside down is a disgrace to you? do you not see all the WHITE guys flying it upside down on various sites? Do you not realize that that is a signal of distress? You don’t think that racism isn’t distressful to a nation? You know, I respect most in our military and haveonly met a few of the military that are jerks, thanks for adding another one to my list.

michael spicer Wednesday, October 8th, 2014 at 2:44 pm

An American Flag, when displayed upside down, is a symbol of distress, to be used when a threat exists to life and limb. These protesters might have a valid point. Black folks face threats to life and limb merely by existing.

Diann Kirby Tuesday, October 7th, 2014 at 7:53 pm

@Roland Ruby and Semper Fidelis: Go get your white sheets cleaned and stop spreading garbage in the world. How people look, dress, or live is not the issue. If it were, cops would be killing all you trailer park white trash morons. Speaking for the African Americans (that the chanting of Africa was directed at), you can kiss our collective asses. That nonsense may have worked for past generations, but you can’t pull that silly sh*t now and expect to get a pass.

David Micalizio Tuesday, October 7th, 2014 at 8:31 pm

You’re a racist, Whimper Sigh.

Lisa Buckhannon Wednesday, October 8th, 2014 at 12:37 am

This is why I will never be a sports fan. The actual cardinal birds are way better company than the racists and women haters.

Lisa Buckhannon Wednesday, October 8th, 2014 at 12:39 am

Maybe you can dream about hitting one out of the field, but I actually got a bird to land in my hands. Care is more important than any sport.

Stan Wednesday, October 8th, 2014 at 1:46 am

Wow. You know nothing about this kid. So what if he was disrespectful? I guess that is an excuse to shoot a kid in the back then execute him at range. Or is that only okay if the victim is black?
You are a racist sob

James Carmon Wednesday, October 8th, 2014 at 3:18 am

This is proof that most of the
Human race is getting less educated
And dumbming down.

DeSean Wednesday, October 8th, 2014 at 10:51 am

You show up to a cardinals game with an upside down flag chanting you want death to an officer. Your audience is 45,000 mostly drunk white baseball fans. You seriously think that would turn out well? This journalist was very quick to point out every comment made by a fan, and yes some comments were racist, but pull up your pants, get a job, fix the flag. There is nothing racist about it. You the subjective journalist want it to be. Heard plenty of personal attacks from the protesters, take off your mask, your face is ugly. No comments about that, perfectly fine. You want to badger a drunk fan about your rank like a dick. Thats fine too, treat her like a moron because she doesn’t understand the military vernacular that you do. Just shows the lack of character the marines failed to give you. I love protest, without it there is no change, but pick your audience better than that. And you as the protester have to take the high road, or come off looking like bigots.

mike Wednesday, October 8th, 2014 at 12:38 pm

Same old crap from left wing black america.one minute they eeant to abolish the death penalty because its barbaric and then they want to hang this cop who was doing his job. How many of these same liberal bitches went out the next day of the protests and had an abortion?

Semper Fidelis Wednesday, October 8th, 2014 at 1:11 pm

I’m not a hillbilly, racist or white. The flag is flown right side up. PEROID. Find another flag to use for distress. America is not the problem, nor is it in a state of unrest. Acting like a damn fool always leads to problems. Robbing a store.fighting police is high risk behavior and will endanger your life. Act like a man and respect other people and you will limit being “disrespected”. Have to have respect to get it. Marines taught me to a lot. And I lack sympathy for a punk kid. Sorry, but I’m not.

Semper Fidelis Wednesday, October 8th, 2014 at 1:47 pm

Funny how I said nothing about race….and I’m racist. You all got some issues out there in ST Lou. Not everything is about race. Old days there was a common code of conduct for everyone. Take the facts at where they lay. That young man that was killed had a long way to go, for his behavior in public being acceptable. Why are the police white too? That is an issue if you ask me. I’d work to figure out why folks aren’t being hired to police the communities they live in. If people make it all black and white deal, than that alone isn’t working. Which is pathetic. Makes no difference what race or religion you are. Just act like an adult and not a fool.
That goes to the baseball fans. They were acting like a bunch of damn idiots. The flag stays RIGHT side up. PEROID.